Forum:LA Tribune
Hello everyone! I am the admin over on the Tommy Westphall Universe (TWU) wiki. Some may be familiar with the universe, theory, hypothesis. It is a massive crossover universe that includes connections between series by just a brand. In the case of 24, there are two. The first is the LA Tribune that was created in Lou Grant, a spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and appeared in "Day 5: 7:00am-8:00am". The second is Morley that has been around forever and appeared in "Day 8: 9:00pm-10:00pm". The Morley connection is not disputed, but the LA Tribune connection is. There was a similar connection between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Journeyman with the San Fransisco Register connecting them. Since San Fransisco Register has an article on the Star Trek wiki, I considered the connection solid enough. I have been discussing this with Acer4666 on his talk page. He suggested I come here to ask editors what they think. So here it is, would this community consider the LA Tribune and Lou Grant connected, or at least semi-connected, to 24? I know the TWU has a reputation for being fanfiction at best, please don't let that influence your decision on just this connection. Lady Aleena (talk) 07:57, November 7, 2017 (UTC) : Hello Lady Aleena! I can read your question in one of two ways: 1) does the presence of the newspaper in 24 mean the events of 24 are to the fantasy of the fictional boy in a different continuity; or 2) does the presence of the newspaper constitute an official crossover. I'll answer them separately: :# It might be the case that, in the TWU universe, the presence of the "Los Angeles Tribune" in 24 is enough to consider the events of 24 to be the fantasy of a boy with autism. That might make perfect sense within that separate continuity. However, the converse, namely, that within the continuity of 24 these events are subordinated to the fantasy of the boy you are referring to... that is emphatically false, and that idea will never gain traction at this project. For us here, the events of 24 are a real continuity. In other words, the inclusion of the "Los Angeles Tribune" is an easter egg, worthy of perhaps a BGIN at best in that specific episode's article here in this wiki... and not confirmation that the events of the 24 continuity are fictions in another fictional character's mind. :# Second, the inclusion of this newspaper does not, unto itself, constitute an official crossover with Lou Grant or any such series. Again, it would be simply an easter egg at best, and does not imply that these two universes are one and the same. : Even if the 24 showrunners announced in their blogs or even in an official announcement of some sort, that 24 was indeed the fantasy of Tommy Westphal, it would change nothing at all for this project. That would still be out-of-universe. We only take our information from in-universe. This means, the crossover would need to be confirmed positively in-universe. The only way this would be a confirmed connection would be if a new episode of 24 came out, and suddenly all the action stopped, there was a flash, everything disappeared in white light, and the scene switched to the boy with autism Tommy Westphal writing the events down or otherwise daydreaming/fantasizing about them. : Now it might be the case that one or more of our very own editors here genuinely agree with this theory, and they are welcome of course to support that at the TWU wiki, but unless the above mentioned event were to happen, such edits would not make sense in this project. : Please don't hesitate to let me know if I misunderstood the question on either, or both, accounts! 17:12, November 8, 2017 (UTC) :: Blue Rook, would you please define "BGIN" for me? I am unfamiliar with the acronym. Lady Aleena (talk) 18:22, November 9, 2017 (UTC) ::: Yes certainly, it refers to Background information and notes, the heading where out-of-universe facts about the article topic are noted. The one for the episode in question is: here. 03:41, November 10, 2017 (UTC) ::::Now that I know what BGIN means, I can answer you properly. ::::This discussion was to be focused just on the possible connection between 24 and Lou Grant. So, should a show runner say that 24 did cross over with Lou Grant through the appearance of the LA Tribune, it would still be out-of-universe. I can understand that. ::::Now, let's not get into white flashes of light leading to Tommy Westphall. It could be something as simple as a character appearing with a last name from Lou Grant, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, one of the two other spin-offs. If that character mentions characters from one of the MTM series, then that would be a solid crossover, in my opinion. And that would solidly put Lou Grant into the TWU. The 24 connection is already well established with Morley making an appearance. ::::So, even a small nod from this wiki to the connection to Lou Grant through the LA Tribune in the BGIN might be enough for me to say that the connection between the series is mostly solid. (It would still be a big fake company connection like it has with Morley.) ::::If someone added this little tidbit to the BGIN in "Day_5:_7:00am-8:00am" (hopefully with an interlink to the 24 and Lou Grant articles on the TWU), I would take away this connection's "disputed" status. ::::I hope to guh that made sense. Lady Aleena (talk) 05:28, November 10, 2017 (UTC) :::That is the kind of thing we would stick in those "background information and notes" sections, so I have added it, as well as created an article for the Los Angeles Tribune.--Acer4666 (Talk) 09:20, November 10, 2017 (UTC)